New year brings state smoke ban

Tracy SwatzCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Starting Jan. 1, many bars and restaurants will stop their hookah service to comply with the statewide smoking ban that also affects cigarette smoking in public places.

Under the statewide act, lounges that have a license to serve food or liquor will not be allowed to offer hookah. However, if a business gets 80 percent of its revenue from tobacco-related sales and does not serve food or liquor, hookah smoking will be allowed in the establishment.

The ban affects bars and restaurants statewide. Hookah lounges seeking the exemption from the ban are required to file an annual affidavit with the State Department of Public Health.

Though the ban doesn't take effect until next month, some bars and restaurants already have packed up their hookahs.

Tizi Melloul in River North snuffed out hookah service a few months ago, manager Mike Schimmel said.

"It was a nice touch for people. It's an unfortunate loss," Schimmel said.

Meanwhile, Sayat Nova manager Greg Demirdjian said the Streeterville restaurant plans to have hookahs until January.

"I get my sales from food and beverage, not hookah," Demirdjian said. "I think it was a nice comfort for the people who came, but I think they came here for the music and other things, not just to smoke hookah."

Though the act states that an establishment cannot offer liquor and hookah, there's nothing in the act that prevents a business from being BYOB, said Efrat Stein, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Licensing.

Guess Hookah already has a BYOB hookah lounge, so the Ukrainian Village tobacco shop will continue to allow hookah smoking after the ban takes affect, owner John Coakley said.

Coakley said he is even looking forward to the smoking ban because he believes the ban will knock out his competitors and spark hookah sales at his shop.

Coakley said he sells at least 100 hookahs a month and expects to see a rush right before and after the ban takes effect. He believes hookah lovers will purchase the pipes for their home because they won't be allowed to smoke in many bars and restaurants anymore.